Gymnastic apparatus for children



J. R. DAVIS ET AL v GYMNASTIC APPARATUS FOR CHILDREN Filed Feb. 21. 1923INVENTORS J7? Fa ris v J PBeZa/qyer W a A iToRNEY.

Patented Mar. 19, 1925.

UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. DAVIS AND JOSEPH P. BELANGER, 0F SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

GYMNASTIC APPARATUS FOR CHILDREN.

Application filed. February 21, 1928. Serial No. 620,400.

To all whom it may concern.

Be known that we, JOHN R. DAVlS and Josnrn P. BELANGER, citizens of theUnited. States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State ofll' ashington, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements inGymnastic Apparatus for Children, of which the following isspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to exercising apparatus in the nature of swings,trapeze, etc, and particularly to a structure of this character whichmay be readily put up and taken down and which is designed for the useand amusement of children and which includes a swing support, a swingmounted thereon, and a trapeze support conjoined therewith.

A further object is to provide a construction of this character which isvery strong, simply made, and which may be readily put up and takendown.

A further object is to provide improved means for supporting the swing.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, whereinFigure 1 is a perspective view of a. gymnastic apparatus constructed inaccordance with our invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary ele vation of the upper portion ofthe swing support;

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the seat boarc 38 and the means formounting it upon the beam 32;

Figure 4 is a side elevation showing the means for connecting the beam14 to the beams 10.

Referring to these drawings, it will be seen that the swing supportingframe con sists of two pairs of diagonally extending beams or timbers 10which cross each other and which are bolted together at theintersection. The upper ends of these cross beams 10 are connected bytransverse beams 11 which are notched at their outer ends to fit uponthe upper ends of the beams 10 and which are bolted or otherwise securedto the supporting beams 10. The lower ends of each pair of supportingbeams 10 is connected by means of a transverse brace 12 bolted thereto,and preferably the lower ends of the, beams 10 are prov-idedwith rubberpads or feet 13.

Coacting with the swing supporting frame is a trapeze and ringsupporting frame consisting of a longitudinally extending beam 14 havingat its outer end two divergently disposed legs 15 bolted at their upperends to the beam 1% on each side thereof and held by the angular ironbraces 16. At its opposite end this beam 14: has attached there to ametallic cap 17 and a longitudinally extending bolt 18 extends into theend of the beam 14-, through this cap,- and extends through the adjacentcross beams 10, as illustrated in Figure 4. the beam 14 is supportedupon the adjacent pair of beams 10, while the other end is supportedupon the legs 15. Metallic braces 19 are attached to the beam 14 andextend Thus one end of downward in divergent relation and are bolted tothe cross beams 10. To the beam 1% are attached the eyes 20, from whichdepend chains supporting the trapeze bar 21 and the rings22. Preferablythese chains are connected to the trapeze bar and the 8 rings by meansof snap hooks 23.

The cross beams 11 are connected to the beams 10 by means of angle irons24; having vertical, laterally inclined portions which are bolted to theupper ends of the beams 1 0 and horizontal portions which are bolted tothe beams 11 and short vertical portions 25. Attached to the middleportion of each of the beams 11 is an angle iron 26, the

extremities of which are downwardly extended at 27 to face the portions25. Pass ing through these cars or downwardly extending portions 25 and27 is a rod 28 constituting a pintle for the support'of the swing rods29. There are two pairs of these swing rods and a pair associated witheach pintle 28 and extending vertically downward therefrom. The lowerends of each pair of swing rods are connected by means of braces 80, andcross bars 31 extend through the conjoined ends of the braces 30, and ofthe rods 29. Above these cross bars 30 are disposed the transverse bolts32, and supported upon these bolts is a seat board 33, the extremitiesof which are formed to provide seats 34, and attached to the under faceof this board adjacent opposite ends thereof are the transverselyextending irons 35 formed with cars 36 through which the bolts 32 pass.

to each other and that the connecting braces 31 and the seat boardalways remain in a horizontal position. 7

It will be seen that a supporting frame of this kind is very rigid,stron will resist any tipping strains caused by gymnastics likely to beindulged in by children. This is for the reason that the frame cannotmove longitudinally because of the relatively wide base given by theswing structure,-

which is sufiiciently heavy and sufiiciently wide to counteract anylongitudinal movementwhich the beam 14 would be likely to haveunderstress. This would not be the case to anything like this extentwere the beam 14 supported merely by oppositely disposed pairs of legs15, but the beam 14 being supported at one end against vertical stressby the legs 15 is supported against longitudinal stress which would tendto tip it by the swing frame which is particularly wide and strong. Thesame may be said with any tipping stress applied to the beam 14 whichwould tend to tip it transversely to its length. Here again therelatively long base given by the pairs of beams 10 and the direction ofthese beams will tend to fully counteract any such. stress as this. Atthe same time the beam 14 with the legs 15 tends to support and bracethe swing frame.

It will be noted that the swing structure is normally held with thepairs of beams in angular relation to each other by brace rods 38 butthatwhen these brace rods are removed that the swing structure may befolded so that the supporting beams are nearly parallel. The swingsupporting rods may be detached, the longitudinal beam 14 may bedetached from the cross beams by releasing the connecting bolt, and thelegs and that it 15 may be detached and the whole structure folded intocompact form so that it is readily portable and may be readily takendown from one place and set up at another.

While we have illustrated a form ofrour invention which we have found tobe thoroughly practical and which is relatively simple and may becheaply made and is very strong, we do not wish to be limited thereto,as it is obvious that minor changes might be made in the details withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention as defined in' the appendedclaims.

We claim 1. The combination with a foldable swing structure including aswing supporting frame formed of crossed pairs of beams, each pair ofbeams being connected at their upper and lower ends, a longitudinallyeX- tendingbeam abutting at one end adjacent the crossed beams at theintersection of the crossed beams, downwardly divergent legs attached tothe extremity'of the beam remote from the supporting frame, a metallic1nem- Y ber engaging that endof the longitudinal beam adjacent the 7swing structure, and means engaging said longitudinal beam with theswing structure at the intersection of the crossed beams thereof, saidmeans engaging the metallic member. V V

2. The combination with a foldable swing structure including a swingsupporting frame formed of crossed pairs of beams, each pair of beamsbeing connected at their upper and lower ends, a longitudinallyextending beam abutting at one end against the adjacent crossed beams atthe intersection of said crossed beams, downwardly divergent legsattached to the extremitiesvof the longitudinal beam remote from thesupporting frame, a U-shaped metallic member embracing that end of thelongitudinal beam adjacent the swing structure, and a bolt'passingthrough the intersection of the crossed beams of the swing structure andinto said longitudinal beam.

In testimony whereof We hereunto aflix our signatures.

JOHN R. DAVIS. JOSEPH P. BELANGER.

